Haunted
by AnabellaHunter13
Summary: Just read! :)
1. Chapter 1

**A little less than a year ago my friend Neveah (you might know her as AhsokaTano141516) had the most amazing story idea. We turned it into a book, which we completed in a couple months. Here it is! I love you enjoy! Love ya (like a sis :) ), AhsokaTano141516! Hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 1

Anabella

I'm Anabella, but you probably knew that. Or maybe you didn't. Either way, I'm still Anabella Rose Lanie. I still live on 3245 Trailside Dr. Pasadena, California. I still have a know-it-all twin sister, Arabella Macaulay Lanie, who is still just a tiny bit older than me. We are still blonde, still blue eyed. We still have a father, Howard Lanie, who still only has his master's degree in engineering. Most importantly my mother is still dead. Nothing could change any of that, well unless you invent the time machine, go back in time squash a cockroach, and therefore rearrange the course of human events. Possibly eliminating human kind forever, but you don't know that. Nor do most humans know that ghosts exist, which eliminates the element of belief. I believe in ghosts. I was 11, but that was 4 years ago. My sister was with me, and ever since then she's been trying to prove two things. One being ghosts exist, two being she's not crazy. I, on the other hand have been hiding my knowledge of ethereal beings.

I believe that's enough 'background check' for now. Now you might understand this.

I wake up on the top bunk of the bunk bed Arabella and I share. The royal smartness of course gets the bottom. She has the alarm clock. And right now it is blaring an unplayful tune, **LOUDLY. ** Arabella, among other things, is the heavy sleeper. So, of course, she isn't awake (lazy bum!). I push a pillow over my ears, in hopes of blocking out the annoying racket. Eventually I give up, throwing the pillow at _her_ face. "Hey! What's the big idea?!" Arabella complains.

"The 'big idea' is that your retarded alarm clock won't shut up!" I snap.

"Ok, first off, 'retarded' isn't A) a nice word, and B) that term is inaccurate, considering the alarm clock is inanimate, so its thoughts couldn't be hampered by a disability!" she retorts. I hear her slam down on the clock followed by sweet, sweet silence. I turn over hoping to sleep a couple more (ok, more like 20) minutes. But sadly, I am awake. I stumble down the ladder. And get my shower. I braid back my long blonde hair, into a French braid. I put on boot cut jeans, my favorite converse, and the first clean t-shirt I find in my dresser, which turns out to be solid purple. I slip my key necklace around my neck, Mom gave it to me before she… she umm… passed away. My heart lurches at the thought of Mom. _Stop Ana!_ I think to myself, _you must stay strong for Arabella._ Speak of the devil (ok, not literally) I look around and there she is. Once again, snoring away the day. I am furious. I shake her, "WAKE UP YOU LAZY BUTT!" I scream.

"Why do you hate sleep?" Arabella groans.

"Heh, heh. I don't, your 'stupid'-better word for ya? - Alarm clock does. Now get up already!" I say angrily. I wish I could be sleeping! I walk away, stomp down the stairs to the kitchen. There I fix breakfast. Toast with peanut butter for both of us, plus 2 glasses of milk. Dad has some sticky note stuck to the fridge about 'Mr. Cooper having something "direly" important to show him' whatever, I don't care. I've heard it all before. It's a rare occasion for Dad to actually be home, yet _another_ reason for me having to be strong. Arabella nearly sprints down the stairs about 5 minutes later.

"Ana, Ana, Ana, Ana, Ana! I have the best idea. I came up with it last night while we were watching America's Funniest Home Videos. But it took me 'til now to have a thorough explanation," she says this about a mile a minute. Clearly she's excited.

"Ok, shoot." I say only half paying attention. I'm playing fruit ninja on my iPhone and I'm about to beat my high score.

"We start a club!" she starts. I press pause and look up at her, raising one eyebrow. I'm kinda confused. I set down my iPhone and start eating my miserable excuse for breakfast. She continues, "A ghost hunter club. We'll call ourselves J.G.H., junior ghost hunters. And to enter you must have seen a ghost. So, duh, we are both automatically in. of course to spread the word we'll have to put up fliers, and have messages during announcements, and such. And I know exactly where we will start, the Lizzie Borden House!" she says I think she is shaking with excitement. I set my hand on her shoulder, and very calmly talk to her, "Look, I'm not so sure this is a good idea, sis. I mean everyone already thinks you are cuckoo for cocoa puffs!"I try to keep my voice steady. Because on the inside I'm laughing like crazy.

"Of course it's a good idea! I mean if one ghost is real, why shouldn't there be more? And certainly we aren't the only people who have ever seen ghosts! Together we can finally prove it! We can prove that ghosts exist in the world around us!" Arabella starts jumping up and down with excitement flowing through her like electricity.

"Fiiiiiiiiiiine. We'll give a shot," I sigh. Though it's unlikely, this may actually work.

"YAY!" she yells happily and starts doing this funny little dance. With a second thought I'm worried this isn't such a good idea. I'm afraid I'll get attached to a person, only to lose them. But I'll be the first to admit I get FER-EAK-ED at haunted houses during Halloween. I'm almost certain I'm gonna pee my pants at the real-eo deal-eo.


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, our friend (who shall remain nameless) helped us with some the ideas!**

Chapter 2

Arabella

"Okay, we need a good slogan if we want our club to be successful." I squealed. I'd had the idea for the J.G.H. for a long time, I've just never told anybody (for fear they would think I am insane).

"You know, Arabella," Ana said, inviting herself into my thoughts.

I sighed. "What, Ana?"

"If you put up posters around the school for a ghost club, more people will think you are crazy."

"Again, I'm not crazy, I'm paranoid!" I argued

Ana took a sip of her milk. "What's the difference?"

I straightened. I opened my mouth to tell her, but her eyes got wide. "NO! Forget I said that!"

"I rest my case." I winked at her. She rolled her eyes.

On my way to school, my right leg was shaking uncontrollably. I was wearing a red dress shirt, black vest, skirt, and headband. I also had a necklace, earrings, and fingerless gloves (all red). My blonde hair was down except for a small ponytail on the back of my head.

I was ranting on to Ana about how much we could prove with the whole J.G.H. idea. But I think she stopped listening when she turned on her iPod. She looked mournful and side tracked.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. She apparently didn't hear me, so I tapped on her shoulder. She looked up and I repeated, "What's wrong?"

She fingered the key necklace that Mom had given her. "I miss Mom." She hung her head.

I put my arm around her, making an effort to be comforting. "There, there." I said.

She looked up at me with a look that said 'What's wrong with you?' I turned away and looked out the window. We sat in silence as the bus turned into the school parking lot. I walked off the school bus but immediately tried to climb back on after I saw *shudder* Jonathon.

Jonathon is a creep that has had a 'thing' for me since the third grade. I jumped behind Ana and mumbled, "Hide me!"

All she did was sidestep, and Jonathon spotted me. I was prepared to dash into the school when I heard Jonathon say, "Hey, Little Miss Sunshine."

I felt my face get hot. Jonathon seems to think that al girls will fall head over heels for him. I hate to burst his bubble, but not 'Little Miss Sunshine.'

"Buzz off, sleemo." I told him.

"Don't push me away!" He begged. I pushed him away and ran inside of the building.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Anabella

"Please, Ana!" begs Arabella, "You're the one who has a free period next class! I have health! Please! Please, please, **PLEASE**! You have to! Besides no one thinks you're the 'crazy' one!" she puts air quotes around crazy. I roll my eyes. We are sitting in history. Since we have Spring break exams in a couple days (nothing major, they just give it some stupid title to put the fear of god into you, actually they are more like pop quizzes. I generally score big on them, and I'm the idiot!) so Ms. Tagg is letting us 'study' with a partner. Arabella and I are just talking. Arabella probably has the whole textbook memorized. After a minute or two of silence Arabella adds, "I'll pay you a buck per poster you hang up, plus 10 bucks if you get us on announcements,"

"Done deal," I say firmly, grabbing the folder of posters from her desk.

She has this huge smile plastered across her face, "I knew you'd see things my way," she says with a superior air.

After a dreadful 20 minutes of hanging up posters all around school **and** 'are you disturbed' looks from everyone that saw me; I am _finally_ finished. For the 10 bucks I trudge up to Principal Karter's office. His office is guarded by his Chihuahua secretary Ms. French, "May I please speak to Principal Karter, please?" I ask. I say please twice to get my point across.

"Do you have a prearranged appointment?" she asks, not taking her eyes off the computer.

"No," I reply.

"Have you been bullied?" she questions, again staying glued to the monitor.

"No," I repeat.

"Have you been assaulted?"

"No…"

"Raped?"

"No!"

"Then why on Earth would you need to see Principal Karter?" she asks.

I sigh before replying as calmly and politely as at this point could manage, "I need to talk to Principal Karter about announcements,"

"Look, kid, we can't help the only weather feeds we get are from Haderslev, Denmark! Now scram!" she rudely orders.

"Lady, I have a new club and I want her to announce it during lunch announcements!" I snap, I'm fed up with this polite junk. She can go die in a hole for all I care!

This wench who has the attention span of a flea has once again turned her focus toward the screen, "Board has'ta approve all clubs first," she blindly rambles.

"It's not a school club," I argue

"Then she can't say anything about it," unengagedly replies

Very slowly I lean over her desk until I'm about six inches from her face, intentionally making her uncomfortable. I drop my voice to a firm whisper and clearly hiss, "Look, I'm about done with your junk. You are going to let me in that office. And you are going to let me in this very second, got it? Unless you want the entire school you're looking up shirtless pictures of Taylor Laughtner," Fear creeps into her eyes and I know I have won. She buzzes the intercom and lets Principal Karter know that she has a 'visitor', and waves me through security. Some useless excuse for security. I'm glad I'm the one here rather than Arabella, because she would've gone all 'nerd' on her. Telling her that she has about a million grammar errors and that talking about uncomfortable subjects as such were 'inappropriate school inquiries'. Knowing her and her stubbornness she end up in a mountain of trouble. I sigh and open Principal Karter's office door.

"What is this?" I ask the lunch lady. She's standing in front of a steaming pile of puke green, lumpy, goo.

"Lunch," she grumbles sloppily. The lady literally has 2 teeth, one on top and one on bottom. It makes me shudder every time she talks. I throw up a little in my mouth every time I look at her face.

I force a tiny smile onto my face and persist, "What food is it," I question.

"I dunno, I think tuna?" she says spitily. (is that a word? Well whatever she got spit all over my face and she added a new flavor to the… the ummm… what the lady said… tuna crap.)

I give up on the goo and carry my tray over to the expired-looking salad. Eh, at least I know what it is. I grab it and head to a table by Arabella.

"Heyyyy," I say

"What are you doing here? You don't sit here!"Asks Arabella.

"Where else am I supposed to sit?" I snap

"Not here? That's Secura's spot! Doesn't Nicole need someone to sit with?" she questions

"Maybe I wanna sit here today? Besides this is Nicole's L.A. day," I retort

That's when the announcements come on, and after the Denmark weather report (which calls for 3 feet of snow) I hear, "And now for a very special announcement. There is a new club forming, it will be and outside of school club. It will be a ghost hunting club. The admittance will be based on whether you have ever seen a ghost. If you are interested please meet in the courtyard after school. Thank you-" I can't hear anything after that, because Arabella is screaming and squealing and hugging me and jumping up and down. Out of all that I manage to hear 'OMG! Thank you, thank you, thank soooooooooooooooooo much!' after about 10 minutes of squealing I develop a headache and stop this madness.

"You owe me $25," I say trying to stop the racket, besides people are starting to stare.

"Fine," Arabella says. She doesn't squeal anymore, but she's still jumps up and down.

Well… until Jonathon comes up to us. He taps Arabella on the shoulder. She turns around to face him and screams, "I'm in!" he says excitedly

"W-w-wh-what?" she says confusedly

"Well when I was five I-" he begins

"Back it up and take over there, creep," she says pushing Jonathon away. And she storms off without another word. Clearly her club idea isn't off to a good start.

"But Sunshine!" he calls

"Look, dude, if you are honestly into this _club_ for the ghost hunting, and not my _sister_. Then come to the courtyard after school. Otherwise, **BACK OFF**!" I say with that I'm-prepared-to-kill-you look in my eyes. He raises his hands in the air to show his 'innocence'. And he slowly backs away, but ends up breaking into a run. Jonathon hits the janitor who is rolling a trash can full of 'tuna'. Jonathon, then, flips himself into the can. I giggle and walk away.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Arabella

The turn out exceeded my expectations. I was expecting maybe 5 at the most. And that is including Ana and me. My thoughts are racing as I see the crowd of people 12 in all. It's incredible. Ana and I are here of course, Secura, Ana's friend Nicole, 2 girls I think their names are Paulina and Marina. This weird guy Tom plus a couple of his weird friends: Jamal and Damion, a guy with his eye on Ana named Ryan, my friend since 4th grade, Marcus. And much to my distress, Jonathon. I can't speak in front of immense crowds like this!

"Ana," I whisper, tapping my sister on the shoulder.

"Whaaat?" Ana groans, turning around.

"I can't do this," I whisper.

"Whaddya mean you can't do this?!" she hisses angrily.

"i-i-I didn't dream that this many people would be here!" I confess

"Oh no! You are doing this! I didn't spend my texting time for nothing you're getting up there right now!" she insists pushing me up onto a enormous upside down flower pot. I swallow, "Hello everyone, my name is Arabella-'' I begin

"Heyyyy sunshine!" calls out Jonathon.

I give him the evil eye and continue my speech, "As I was saying before I was so **RUDELY **interrupted, welcome to the first official meeting of the Junior Ghost Hunters or J.G.H." I step down and Ana steps up.

"Today, I think we should start by introducing ourselves. I'm Anabella Lanie, but call me Ana. Um, you've already met my twin sister Arabella Lanie, so um, who's next?" we stand quietly as everyone introduces themselves.

"Nicole Posner,"

"Tom Waters,"

"Paulina Underhill,"

"Ryan Johnson,"

And so on, I learn that the girl who I thought was named Marina is actually Malena.

When everyone was done, Secura speaks up, "I have a question, what exactly is the purpose of this club?"

I breathe a sigh, I'm actually glad she asked that, "The purpose of this club is to prove the existence of ghosts. And the only way to that is to investigate haunted places. I have just the place to start. Has anyone ever heard of the Lizzie Borden House?" I ask. Much to my surprise several people raise their hands.

"Isn't she some famous singer or something?" asks Ryan. Marcus elbows him in the ribs indicating for him to shut up.

"Wrong, Lizzy Borden was a girl who lived in the late 1800's. She was convicted of murdering her parents with an ax in their house in Massachusetts," corrects Paulina

"And," Marcus says, "Her house is said to be the most haunted place in America," Thank you, Marcus! To be honest I had no clue he knew about Lizzie Borden...

Trying to look unfazed, "Yes," I added, "The basement of the house is haunted by the ghosts of two kids that would've been Lizzie Borden's niece and nephew sadly they were drowned. The second floor is haunted by the ghost of Lizzie Borden's where he was murdered and the attic is haunted by the ghosts of Lizzie Borden's stepmother and a maid who worked there," I pause to let everyone take in what I just said.

"Now as you know spring break starts at the end of this week. If you don't currently have any plans, you can come with Ana and me to her house to investigate," I announce

"Hey, I've got a question for you, Sunshine," Jonathon says

"And what would that be?" I say with an edge of irritation. I don't have time for another cheesy pickup line, if one makes itself present.

"How do you plan for us to get to all of us there? And how are we gonna be allowed in that house? Ain't that like private property or something?" he questions doubtfully. Ugh I hate bad grammar!

I let out a huff of anger and try to sound polite as possible, "I'm_ so_ glad you asked! You see, my family and the people who own the Lizzie Borden house are distant, _distant_ friends. And they have graciously agreed to be our guardians for our stay and pay our way to Massachusetts," I was about to continue when I noticed Jamal looking at Nicole. She was listening with interest, then Jamal walked over to her slicked back his hair, "Hello, there," he said raising his eyebrows in a seductive way.

Nicole looked over at Jamal and gave him the back-up-or-you-will-get-punched look. But she only said, "Back off, Pervert." I'm guessing he heard the threatening tone in her voice because he certainly backed off. _I need to talk to her about getting Jonathon to leave me alone_, I thought to myself. It was quiet for a while.

"So," Malena says breaking the silence, "You started this club because you saw a ghost?"

"Yes," I replied proudly, "You did too, right?"

"Yeah. I was with Paulina we were practicing our gymnastics, when lights went out. A few minutes later a glowing blue figure appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the room,"

"Wow, that sounds pretty creepy," says Nicole. She has a glimmer of excitement in her eyes.

"Don't worry babe! I'll protect you!" he wraps his arms around Nicole and sticks his face in her long black hair giving it a huge whiff. Nicole reaches for Jamal's shoulders and throwing him over her. He lands on his back with a squeal of pain.

"Hands off, butterfingers," she growls. Putting a knife to his throat he groans. She walks away looking rather satisfied. She stands over by Ana, who high fives her.

"I saw the ghost of my grandfather!" Jonathon boasts. Jamal lets out a groan. I roll my eyes.

Trying to change the subject, I stand back up on the flower pot "Soooooooooo, if you can come investigate the Lizzie Borden house raise your hand," I announce. I was expecting 2 or 3 people to raise their hands. And that's being generous. But much to my extreme surprise everyone raised their hands.

"I already have plans, but who cares?" Nicole says

"Nicole," I begin, "you don't have to go if you don't want to,"

"Are you kidding?" Nicole laughs, "This is the perfect excuse to miss my grandmother's funeral!"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Anabella

Ok, I'll be the first to admit I'm shocked. Everyone honestly has nothing better to do for their spring break! (Ok, I'm kidding. I'm really shocked that everyone can go!) Arabella is beyond thrilled. But I'm not paying much attention; I'm too busy looking at Ryan. He may not be the tallest guy on earth. He's only 5 foot 7'', but he's still taller than me. And between his brown eyes, and the wavy dark brown hair that hangs in eyes in the most adorable way that is **SO**cute!_ Ana, stop! Hitting on a guy? How can you stay strong? STOP! YOU. DON'T. LIKE. HIM. HE. WILL. NEVER. LIKE. YOU. GIVE. UP. ALL. HOPE. NOW!_ I tell myself. I look over his way one last time. He's looking at me; he notices me and quickly turns away. I do the same, and write him off forever. I return my focus to my sister, "Since there are 12 of us I say break up into teams of 4-"

"Um, not to be rude or anything, but aren't there 4 floors? So shouldn't we be breaking up into groups of 3?" Interrupts Paulina.

"Noooo, as I was saying," says Arabella giving Paulina daggers. Arabella HATES people who interrupt her, "groups of 4, since the first floor isn't haunted. We only need to investigate 3 floors. Therefore we will base at the first floor. Now our penultimate order of business of the meeting. Our groups need names. Nothing normal like Alpha or Beta,"

"Hey, what about Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw? Ya know? Like Harry Potter or whatever?" suggests Ryan.

"I vote Jamal is in team Slytherin!" calls Nicole. I laugh, Ryan does to.

"I like the team names!" I announce trying to help. Ryan flashes a smile to me. My heart rate accelerates and I return his smile. _Um, what happened to ditch the dude?_ I remind myself, _right, right._ I look away, _why did I say that?_

"Any opposed to the team names?" Arabella asks. No one speaks up, "Motion carried. Nicole, Ana, Ryan, and Jamal will be Team Gryffindor. Ana will lead the team. Paulina, Malena, Secura, and I will be Team Ravenclaw. I of course, being the president of the club, will be leader of Team Ravenclaw. And Marcus, Tom, Jonathon, and Damion will be Team Hufflepuff. And," Arabella stops and gulps as though what she is about to say might not be the smartest decision, "Jonathon will lead Team Hufflepuff," she cringes.

"**YES!** Yes, yes, **YES!** Me and you, Sunshine! Me and you!"Jonathon screams excitedly, he runs up to Arabella, picks her up, hugs her, spinning them both in a circle.

"**PUT ME DOWN UNLESS YOU WANT TO DIE A CERTAIN UGLY DEATH!**" Arabella screams. Jonathon sets her down.

"Heh, heh, sorry. I, uh, guess I got a little bit too excited. Sorry, Sunshine," Jonathon apologizes rubbing the back of his head. Arabella lets out a huff of annoyance.

"Okay, slow down stud. Firstly, it's you and I. not me and you. Secondly it's You, Ana, and I. Thirdly, there is a darn good reason why I put us on separate teams. Fourthly, **I. AM. NOT. YOUR. ****SUNSHINE****!**" she exclaims indignantly. That dude _seriously_ needs to back off, Arabella is a black belt in like 15 different martial arts. She lightens her expression and her tone, "Anyway, and now our last order of business before I go home, sterilize myself, and burn my clothes!" her tone darkens and she gives Jonathon the evil eye. She sighs, "Code names, we need code names. To start things off, I'm Waterbug."

"I'm Sparrow," I say trying to continue the ball rolling. I think Ryan smiles. I turn away. I can't like him, I've gotta stay strong.

"I vote Jamal either be perv or dead meat!" Nicole announces with all seriousness.

"Chowhound," states Ryan

"Dibs on Fly girl!" calls Paulina

"Can I be Lovebird?" asks Jamal

"**NO!**" shouts Nicole

"Fine, I'm Rocket man, then," mutters Jamal

"Is that some perv joke or something?" asks Nicole. "BT dubs, I'm Jellybean!"

"It's not! I swear!" Jamal protests

"Em hm," sneers Nicole. Jamal looks hurt.

" Airhead," says Marcus

"I'm not an airhead!" objects Jamal

"Not you, idiot! That's my code name, Airhead," explains Marcus

"Oh," mumbles Jamal who is clearly ashamed

"Hermanita," says Malena

"Bookworm," Secura announces

"Fruit loops," Jonathon says. Everyone shoots Jonathon questionable looks. Jonathon only shrugged.

"Thundercat!" squeals Tom excitedly. When everyone starts laughing his face turns somber.

"I can't think of one," mutters Damion

"We can think one for you," says Arabella with a devilish smile on her face. She whispers in my ear. I giggle and nod. "Your code name is, Rainbow," Arabella announces. Damion groans, but doesn't disagree, "With that, we bring our meeting to a close. Remember meet here on Thursday so we can go over last minute plans," announces Arabella. And on that note everyone goes their separate ways.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Arabella

Due to my excitement, the remaining days of school take **FOREVER**. Each minute feels like an hour. Each hour feels like a day. And each day feels like a year.

"Is it Tuesday or Friday?" I constantly ask Ana.

"It's Thursday, Arabella," she sighs. I think she's a little bit irritated. I took a deep breath and looked at the clock. Two hours left of school, which equals 2 days in my little paranoid brain.

Secura and I have gotten together every day this week after school planning everyone's gadgets and whatnot. We have to have special spy gear because working with phones in a ghost environment is a recipe for disaster. Everyone will a communi-cuff. Each leader will get an ear-piece and special communi-cuff. Jamal gets ghost vision goggles. I'll take care of all the technical stuff. Nicole will have knives. And Secura will have a special ghost seeker device that looks similar to a bow and arrow set.

I become so bored that I begin to chew on the end of my pencil. I get even more bored and take the pencil out of my mouth and drum against the table to my own little tune. I'm working on trying to play 4 seasons by Vivaldi. Suddenly I hear a whooshing noise coming from my right and the back of a pencil hits me in the back of the neck, I flinch.

"Ow!" I squeal

"Miss Lanie?" asks my history teacher. We are in the middle of Spring Break exams.

"Sorry ma'am," I mutter. I whirl around and see Ana is now lacking a pencil. I turn back around and curse to myself. When Mrs. Tagg turn around to her computer screen, where she can't see me anymore. I turn back around, "What was that for?" I hiss at Ana.

"You **SUCK** at percussion," she whispers back, "I just took matters into my own hands now hand me my pencil!" I throw it at her face. Effectively hitting her right between the eyes, so what if it hit her with the eraser end. I turn back around and finish the stupid test.

The plane tickets have been bought and we leave first thing tomorrow morning, the plan has been approved by everyone's parents. Though it took Nicole a day to convince her mom to allow her to miss her grandmother's funeral.

**Finally**, the bell rings, and I sling my backpack over my shoulder and walked to science. I was about to walk in the door when Jonathon stopped me, "There's my little ray of Sunshine!" Jonathon grins.

I rolled my eyes, "Out of my way, creep," and I push him aside.

He stepped in front of me again, "Hey, Sunshine, Whaddya say we rearrange the teams and put me and you on the same team?" he practically begs. He knows I hate bad grammar! I sigh and try changing tactics. I grab his hand, "Oh, sweetie the reason I made both of us team leaders is so we wouldn't be on the same team," I coo. I drop his hand and before he could object I push past him and walk into class.

I stand on the flower pot at our meeting after school. "Is everyone ready for tomorrow? Remember we need to meet at the airport at 5 am and that our flight leaves at 7 am, "I announce.

"So I can't show up at 6:45?" asks Nicole

"NO!" we all scream at once.

"Ok, ok. Sorry I just don't, normally, do early," Nicole mutters

"Good, now let's hand out the techie stuff!" says Ana excitedly. Secura and I hand it all out.

"Ok, everyone now remember put this in your luggage not carry on, we don't want any epidemics with security," I instructed. They all nod. "Now that we have everything, does anyone have any questions before we leave?" I ask.

"Are we sure that we can't switch the teams around?" Jonathon asks

"Yes," I reply

"Are we sure I can't show up at 6?" Nicole asks

"Yes," I repeat

"Are we sure I can't lead Team Hufflepuff?" asks Tom

"Yes," I repeat

"Are we sure I can't hug Nicole?" asks Jamal

"**YES!**"Screams Nicole

"Well if that's all, then everyone go home and don't stay up late. See you bright and early tomorrow morning!" I announce. Promptly afterward the meeting was adjourned.

I don't sleep much. I'm too excited. My dreams, they're coming true. I think I fall asleep around 11 pm. I wake up around 3 am. I jump up and climb the ladder and start shaking Ana, "Ana, wake up! Wake up! Wake up!" I'm shaking her wildly.

"Ugh," she groaned, " Why do you hate sleep?!"

"Ha, ha, ha, very funny," I tell her, "We have to get up, we're leaving in 30 minutes!" I scramble back down the ladder, and get dressed. Ana groans and rolls out of bed. Yes, she literally rolls out of bed and hits the floor with a thud. She groaned, but other than that she didn't show any recognition of pain.

She got dressed in what seemed to be slow motion, whereas I had zipped through my morning dailies. After what seemed like eons, Secura's mom picks us up in her car. In the back seat it's Ana, Me, then Secura. I think I was jumping up and down in the seat, because Secura took my right shoulder and Ana took my left shoulder, "Calm down, Arabella. Stop shaking!" they insisted at the same time.

"Sorry!" I squealed apologetically, "I'm just so excited!" they roll their eyes, and listen to my mindless chatter.

The car pulled up to the drop off area of the airport. "Have a good time girls!" called Secura's mom. We shuffled out of the car with our luggage, and said our goodbyes. Of course Dad had to work late last night so he wanted to sleep. I'll just text him when we get off the plane. After that I practically ran into the building. Secura and Ana trudged after me. After we got our baggage checked we headed to terminal A9. We sat down and one by one, everybody arrived. After group A was called, we all lined up and boarded the plane. Lucky for us, we all got to sit together. We all sat in coach, but at least we were together. In the front on the right was Nicole, Ana, and Ryan. On the front left was Jonathon, Tom and Jamal. The row behind them was Marcus, Damion, and Malena. And across from them were Secura, Paulina, and I. We all sat down and got situated. Then the pilot talked for about 5 minutes, and before we knew it we were headed to Massachusetts.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Anabella

As soon as they allowed electronics, Nicole turned on her iTouch, put in her ear buds, muttered something about wake her up when we were about to land, and zonked out. I grumbled and thought back to just 30 minutes before.

"Alright, everyone!" Arabella calls, "Here are everyone's tickets!" she hands out everyone's tickets. I'm reviewing my ticket with Nicole; we get to sit next to each other! That's when Ryan walks over to me. He stands so close that our arms are almost touching, my heart flutters. _I thought we agreed that we didn't like him?! _I remind myself. This is going to be a long trip.

"Hey," Ryan says with a smirk.

"Hey," I mumble. My skin turns hot and I know I'm blushing. I hate this so much. I don't _want_ to like him, but I guess I do. It's not like he likes me back. He looks like a player. He's just trying to get me to fall for him. I grit my teeth with annoyance.

"So where are you sitting?" he asked. He flips his hair. So cute! Then the awesome, non-mushy side me of me slapped the mushy side, metaphorically. He looks over my shoulder, now we are actually touching and I'm afraid I might throw up. I bite my tongue.

"10b," I mumble and turn away, trying to start back up a conversation with Nicole.

"Awesome! I'm 10c!" he says a little a too excitedly. "I, uh, mean, uh cool…. I'm 10c." correcting himself. I giggle. Nicole gives me a 'you-giggled-you-are-on-your-own-sister!' look, and walks away. It's all I can do not to reach out and say, '_Don't leave me!_' I look down. Ryan's hand is strangely close is to mine. Yet, for reasons I can't explain, I don't pull away. I look back up at him; I'm trying to think of something to say, but I can't. Just then Tom jumped in between us, "**INTERVENTION!**" he screamed. Ryan turned and slugged Tom right in the gut. I groan with annoyance and walk away. _The moment has passed no point in dragging it along_, I tell myself, _stop Ana! He doesn't like you! He's only trying to get in your head!_

I remember boarding, he had tried to walk beside me, but I had pushed past him. I had given Arabella the stink eye, because she made these weird clicking noises with her tongue and pressed her hands which were shaped like hand puppets together. I guess she saw the tears of anger brimming in my eyes, and stopped. I walked faster and caught up with Nicole.

"What happened?" she asks me

"Ryan happened," I grumble

"Wow, sucks to be you,"

"Gee, that makes me feel _so_ much better,"

"Just suck it up, and admit he's an idiot!"

"I know, I know. But, he's just so cute!"

"Grow up! If you want any sympathy, then don't get involved with his little player butt. What did he do anyway?"

"Well, he got _reeeeeeally _close and he I think he tried to hold my hand, and, and…"

"Ana, I'm gonna start out real nice and slooow. Has he done anything to harm you, at the present time?"

"Well, no? But, I just can't trust him. He's trying to get in my head; I know it!"

"**THEN CALM YOURSELF! AND JUST STAY AWAY. 'K?**"Nicole says shaking me.

"'K," I mutter. We boarded.

I opened my eyes, I've returned to the present.

"Ana," I hear Jamal whisper. I look to my left past Ryan.

"What Jamal?" I groan

"Switch with me!"

"**NO!**"

"Pleeeeease?!"

"**NO!**"

"Pretty please?"

"**NO!** Shut up, and leave me alone!" I hiss. He groans and leans back. As much as I want to get away from Ryan, I have to protect Nicole. I close my eyes, and try to sleep. I finally manage to doze off. That's when turbulence begins. Out of pure nervousness and anxiety I grab the nearest thing which happens to be Ryan's hand. I immediately regret it. He looks over and me a gives me a half-smile, gives it a squeeze, and rubs his thumb back and forth on my hand. It's so comforting it makes me not want to pull away. In the end, I force myself to. I grumble to myself and slink in the airport seat. He is soooooooooo playing me for a fool! _No,_ I tell myself, _I will not fall for his dumb love trap! I will be the strong, independent! No damsel-in-distress for me! And he is __not__ my Prince Charming_. I grab one of Nicole's ear buds; it's sitting in her lap. I put it in my ear, and close my eyes. Soon I fall asleep.

"Hey, Ana? Annnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaa!" calls Ryan. I groan, but don't open my eyes. _No, I won't be seduced by his call. He is not a Siren and I am not Odysseus_. So he can go die in a hole for all I care.

Pretending to play it cool I grumble, "But Meemaw was making cookies!"

"Don't worry, Sugar cube, we can get cookies when we land," Ryan says with an air. I think he might be smirking. Suddenly there's a weight on my shoulders. My eyes shoot open to find his arm around my arm, and I think he's leaning in to kiss me. I squeal, unbuckle my seat belt. And run into the bathroom. I lock the door, and that's when I start shaking. I press up against the backside of the door. _What the heck is happening? Does he like me? __Could__ he like me? Am I likeable? Did he really just try and kiss me?_ I squeeze my eyes shut, and block out my buttload of questions. _What's it matter anyhow? He's just a player!_ I open my eyes and find I'm hyperventilating. I can almost hear Arabella screaming at me to 'stop being a drama queen!' I look in the mirror and compose myself.

"Miss? Can you please hurry it up in there? We will be landing soon," a flight attendant says it's a bit muffled because of the door. I take one last look in the mirror, and unlock the door. I walk out, calmly push past Ryan, rebuckle my seat belt, and on that note I am prepared for landing. He looks at me like I'm bacon and he's some ugly mutt.

"Back off, bacon breath!" I grumble with an evil glare in my eyes.

I think he's hurt by my statement. He has a crease in his brow. That I have to admit is a teensy- weensy bit cute. His lower lip puckers out, "Well… uh… calm yourself… umm… bowling… boobs?" he retorts. God, he's awful at this insult thing. I gasp and smack him across the face. The look on his face is regretful.

"Oooh! Catfight!" Nicole sings. I guess she woke up.

I whirl around, "No! This is not a cat fight! That dumb ass, "I say pointing at Ryan, "said I have bowling boobs!" I squeal frustratedly. Nicole starts bursting out laughing. My look of anger goes upset fast.

"Look, babe, I'm sorry alright?" Ryan says apologetically

"I'm not your babe!" I snap, but the look on my face isn't exactly convincing.

"Ok, fine. But I am sorry," he mumbles. We both turn away. I'm so angry with myself. _How could I think he was cute? He said I have bowling boobs! So what if he apologized? He shouldn't have said it in the first place! Then again I __did__ say he had bacon breath._ My heart aches. Better now than later I guess. Our silence carries itself right on through to baggage claim. And Nicole is laughing the whole way.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Arabella

We all stepped off the plane as a group, though some are more 'divided' than others. Nicole acts as the Iron Curtain for Warsaw Pact and NATO countries, otherwise known as Ryan and my sister. I did roll call, and receive several looks of confusion from workers and passengers alike at the gate. Unfortunately everyone was there (crap, I was hoping we'd manage to lose Jonathon, somehow). "Alright," I begin, "My dad's friends should be meeting us at baggage claim A17. So let's go people!" we walk past about 5 gates, ride the shuttle to the baggage claim, and that's when it occurs to me we must look like so sort of gang, because a police officer stops us.

"Excuse me, can I see some I.D. please?" the officer asks us. The officer is female, with curly auburn hair. She is about five foot seven inches, barely taller than Ana or me. All the guys, except for Tom and Ryan, tower over her by a good 4 or 5 inches. Jonathon especially, he steps up right beside me as though to protect me. We all look around; Marcus grabs his back pocket, pulls out his wallet, and shows her his driver's license. The officer grabs it, holds a flashlight up to it, sniffs it (which I'm not sure is company policy), and then hands it back. "Anyone else," she questions

"I don't think so, ma'am," Jonathon says

"Don' sass me, boy!" her tone is threatening. I'm giggling on the inside.

"Sorry, ma'am," he mumbles to himself.

"Where y'all's mommas?" she questions. I notice Ana bites her lip, my throat catches. Jonathon grabs my hand; I jerk it away and give him a back-off-creep look, he steps back, I smirk.

Jonathon steps in "We're supposed to be meeting our… legal guardians to take us to their house," yeah that makes since, I guess.

"Mm hm," the officer stares at us, and we all walk off. We get down the escalator grab our bags and look around. We see a couple approach us. The man appears to be in his late thirties, early forties. The woman looks to be in her mid twenties. The man is about 6 foot 2, with light brown hair and icy blue eyes with an ominous twinkle. The woman isn't over 5 feet tall, her hair is long and strongly resembles carrots and her eyes are about the color of carrot tops.

"Hello Dearies," the woman coos. Her smile is so big she looks like the Joker. She takes her 2 hands and holds Ana's one like a sandwich.

"Um, hello?" Ana pulls her hand away. Ryan looks like he's prepared to kill the stranger.

"You must be Arabella and Anabella. Howard's children," she coos. I swear her smile gets bigger.

"Um, yeeeeees," my reply is cautious, my brow knits in confusion. Who the heck are these people?

"I am Elise," the woman says

For the first time the man speaks, "And I am Anthony," his eyes eerily light up.

"And we are, The Mayfield's!" they say at the same time.

"Creepy!" Jonathon whispers in my ear

"Okaay, so you guys are the Mayfield's. What does that have to do with anything? And why do they know Ana, Arabella, and their dad?" asks Nicole raising an eyebrow.

"We are the current owners of the Lizzie Borden house," Mrs. Mayfield's eyes light up like a Christmas tree.

"Oh, that makes sense!" I say, these sound like the people Dad talked about. She strokes my cheek.

"My sweet girl, you look so much like your mother, you must miss her so very, very much," she coos. I feel my face grow hot.

Secura steps forward, "If you don't mind my asking, why would you buy a haunted house? Especially the most haunted house in America?" Mrs. Mayfield leaves my face and slowly, in a spine-chilling manner approaches Secura.

"Well we didn't buy it my little carrot; it's been in our family for a long, _long_ time. Might I say your red hair is simply astounding, is that its natural color?" Mrs. Mayfield grabs and yanks it towards her pointy nose, "And it smells wonderful! Like strawberries!" Secura lets out a nervous smile and yanks it away from her grasp, obviously freaked out. The way she dragged on the word long fills me with suspicion, exactly how long has it been in their family?

"Are you and your husband going to be there while we investigate?" I question

"No, no, no. We will be residing at a hotel, during your stay," she says almost too quickly and innocently. I can almost hear everyone breathe a sigh of relief. Clearly they weren't exactly fond of her, and quite frankly, she was freaking me out.

Then she cupped her hands enclosing Ana's chin, and I saw Ryan clench his fists. "You know, Dearie, I have a nephew about your age who may be interested. Would you like his number?"

I could Ana was thinking something like, 'heck to the no', but she only said, "Thanks, but no thanks…. You see I already have a boyfriend," she puts her arm around Ryan's shoulder.

She looks a tad disappointed, but only says, "Well, I just thought I would offer," then throws out that same creepy smile. "Come on, we have the cars outside,"

….******….******….

After we had gotten into the parking lot, we split up. The boys went with Mr. Mayfield, and sadly, we girls went with the witch. On the ride there, Mrs. Mayfield tried to tell us stories about her childhood. We did our best to ignore her and just nod whenever she acknowledged us.

My heart ran a relay when the Lizzie Borden House came into view. If I didn't know the place was haunted, I'd say the owner was very lucky to own such a gorgeous green house. I jumped out of the car, I'm in awe. My jaw drops with my luggage. I stand in the front yard. And for a single moment it's like this house and I are the only two things in the world, everything else just disappears.

Then Ana comes up and tackles me, I begin to squirm around frantically. "Hey!" I protest indignantly.

"Sor-ry!" Ana says pulling me off the ground, "I thought you were in a coma or something!"

"Why don't we take you inside and introduce you to the first floor?" suggests Mr. Mayfield. We all followed Psycho 1 into the house.

I stay behind to gather my stuff. I felt a tap on my shoulder, half expecting it to be Jonathon; I whirl around with a scowl on my face. It turns out to be Ryan, I roll my eyes, "Can I help you?" I sigh

"Can I ask you something?" Ryan rubs the back of his head, an obvious anxiety sign. However he was holding my gaze. I badly want to say no, I want to get inside and start my investigation immediately; I want to so badly I can hardly stand it.

"That depends," I raise an eyebrow curiously, "What's the question?"

"Do you think Anabella could ever like me?" Ryan asked his gaze dropped, like I was on the floor. I resisted the urge to say 'heeeeeelllllllloooooo, up heeeeeerrrrre!'

"You know, I never really understood the so-called 'crush.' I also never understood the trapping the boy with the bait of flirtation,"

"Three words. You. Are. Useless. Got that?"

I raised my eye brow and crossed my arms, "Keep in mind, Ryan. I'm her sister, _and_ I can end your life in half a second,"

He followed me into the house. We found everybody unrolling their sleeping bags. Mrs. Mayfield noticed Ryan and I and greeted with that bizarre smile of hers, "Hello Dearies, you will be staying in the living area. If you _darling_ children get hungry there's food in the kitchen,"

"Thank you ma'am," I say. I'm trying to get these creeps out of the house as soon as possible. All my dreams are finally coming true! And I want these weirdos out of my space as soon as possible. It's all I can do not shoo them out like flies. Big, ugly, flies. She gives us one last psycho-maniac smile, and her and her husband leave. I swear everyone exhales the moment the door shuts, including me, like we had been holding our breath the entire time.

For a minute or so we just look around at each other. Marcus makes his move as the first to speak, "So, I know we're supposed to be ghost hunting and all, but I'm flat out exhausted,"

"Me too," Tom comments

"I'll sleep with Nicole! For protection…" Jamal interjects

"Not unless you wanna lose your manhood you won't," Nicole snaps, she pulls a knife to Jamal's throat.

"Scratch my last comment," Jamal mutters stuffing his hands in his pockets

"That's what I thought," Nicole beams

"Sunshine, I think we're all tired," Jonathon comments

"Fine, fine. We'll take naps, but we're all getting up at exactly 6:45 pm, right before prime ghost hunting time," I give in, I set my watch to alarm mode. And take the only open spot between Secura and Jonathon. I grumble to myself about terrible spot. I guess I was more tired than I thought. Because before I know me eyelids are heavy and I'm asleep.

….******….******….

My eyelashes fluttered open as I woke up. Looked out the window, and saw that it was late afternoon, I glanced at my watch and my theories were proved, it was 6:42. Then I realized something. I was leaning on Jonathon's chest, and his arms were wrapped around me. I immediately pulled away.

"Oh, sorry," Jonathon apologized, "You just look so peaceful when you sleep,"

Something in my heart softened. For the first time in my life, it feels like I'm talking to a real person. I have to fight the urge to crawl back into his arms and fall asleep. _Shut up Arabella! You hate him, remember? Or have you lost your mind?! _But something inside of me wants to kiss him.

I curse under my breath and stand up. "Everybody, wake up! Let's get a move on people! The ghosts' await us!" After a series of moans, groans, and cursing, predominantly sourcing at Damion, we are all up and getting out our gadgets. We break into our groups. "Ok, so who is going to take what floor?" I ask

"We'll take the basement," Nicole volunteers

"We'll what?!" says Ana, her tone sounds a bit frightened

"We'll be fine," Ryan assures Ana

"That's the second most haunted floor, it ties with the attic!" Ana whimpers

"We'll be fine!" Ryan insists

"Ok, fine. We'll take the basement," Ana grumbles

"Jonathon, your group can take the 2nd floor. Team Ravenclaw will go up to the attic," I pump my fist in the air

"Tom, I can't believe I didn't notice this before, but what the heck are you wearing?!" Ana asks, "We're ghost hunting, not trick or treating!" Tom is dressed in plastic medieval-looking armor, unplated chain male (an obvious cheap sign), a way-too-small-for-even-Tom's-tiny-head 'helmet', elf-like shoes, and a blue light saber. I notice Ryan give Ana an approving smile.

"I'm prepared, alright?!" Tom insists, waving his light saber making fake light saber noises. Everyone rolls their eyes.

We do our final check over. It's all I can do not to jump up and down with excitement. I give Ana a hug and wish her good luck. Then I turn to Jonathon, "Good luck," I let out a small smile and teeny little wave. He opens up his arms, I look at them like their sewage, my lip curls a little, and I walk away. I give the others a farewell salute and Team Ravenclaw is headed up to the attic to investigate.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Anabella

"We're boyfriend and girlfriend?" Ryan says with a smirk  
"No!" I protest. Pfffft, there he goes again, playing me like a violin.

"Oh," I think Ryan sounds a bit disappointed. No, he couldn't be. I must be imagining it. _Remember? He's the violinist?_ I remind myself. We creak down the stairs, and flip on our flashlights. I notice Jamal step closer to Nicole, "Jamal, a word of advice. Nicole has a very small amount of patience, unless you want to lose any bit of manhood you had, GET A CLUE AND LAY OFF!" I say with as much authority as I can muster. Nicole whirls around, and sees Jamal. You can almost see the steam streaming out of her ears, oddly reminding me of a train. She grabs him by the collar, and lifts him up off the ground.

"Listen you, everything Ana said is true. And I'm frickin' fed up with your little pervert act! And if you think I need you, by the way I've never seen less meat on a person in my life, to protect me. Then you are **seriously** confused!" I flash my light in Jamal's face, it's blueberry blue. She drops him and he collapses on the cold, dirt basement floor. The basement is even creepier looking than I ever could have imagined. The basement is cold and dank; the air is warm and muggy, though the air in the floors above had no humidity.

Once Jamal makes his way to his feet, we start our investigation. I flash my light up to the ceiling, and find it's very low. I'm actually glad we're the short group, because someone tall like Jonathon or Marcus would be bumping their heads, all the time. I see a small metal chain a couple feet in front of me, but about 3 inches taller than me. I step forward and reach up. Before I can get to it, Ryan pulls the chain for me. The room illuminates, we all turn off our flashlights. A couple hours of investigating later, we pass the spot, which by my calculation, is where the blood from the parlor dripped down to. All of the sudden while we looking over the spot, a bone chilling breeze blew right threw me, it pushes me off balance. I let out a squeal and fall forward. Ryan catches me. I start to shudder; the cold has yet to leave me.

"Whatwasthat?" I choke out. I push away from Ryan and squat on my knees fingering my key necklace. I'm just trying to figure out what it was, but I know I look like I'm cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

"What was what?" Ryan asks. He sits beside me

"What pushed me over," I insist

"Ana, are you alright? I didn't see anything push you over,"

"I didn't _see_ anything either, but something pushed me over,"

"Are you sure?"

"What, do you think I pushed myself over?"

"Well…"

"But you felt the chill right?"

"What chill?"

"Nicole? You felt it right?" I look over at Nicole for reassurance.

"Hm? Did you say something?" Nicole asks me

"She wants to know if you felt a 'chill?'" Ryan raises a confused eyebrow

"It was more like a breeze," I say staring out into space. God I must look mental.

"Oh yeah, I felt that," Jamal, Nicole, and Ryan say at the same time. I push myself to my feet, Nicole steadies me.

"You ok?" she asks me

"I am now," I grumble.

I release my death grip on my key necklace, which I've held the whole time. This whole thing reminds me of Mom. I don't know why, it must be 'my subconscious' Arabella is always telling me about, whatever that means.

"Maybe we should search somewhere else? What are we supposed to find here anyway?" asks Ryan.

"No, we don't need to go anywhere else. And we've found what we were looking for,"

"You have?" All three say at the same time.

"Yup," I say with a knowing smirk

"So," they say

"What?" I look around

"What did you figure out?!" they all squeal at the same time. Jamal squeals higher than Nicole, I laugh on the inside.

"This place is haunted,"

"Thank you, Katherine Obvious!" Jamal comments

"Jamal," Nicole sighs

"Yes, Gorgeous,"

"Shut up,"

"Yes, ma'am," Jamal mutters

"An-e-way, it's not 'Katherine Obvious!' It's Captain Obvious, stupid!"

"Really? I coulda swore it was Katherine-"

"Well it's not, alright?" Nicole sighs

"If it makes you feel any better, Ana it wasn't completely obvious," Ryan comments. I make a sneery face. Whatever, I've dealt with players before. They treat you all nice and junk, you out with him and then you find him hitting on some girl younger than me! I turn away.

"Com' on guys, and Nicole. Let's uh, go look somewhere else," I grumble. I'm not in the mood for his crap, and I don't really think we can find anything else here.

"Wait, Nicole. Document everything we've found here, the 'chill'-"

"Jamal being an idiot?" Nicole sarcastically smiles in Jamal's direction. He steps back and falls.

"Jamal?" I ask, I'm not concerned, it's just a courtesy.

"I fell on something!" Jamal complains

"Your dignity?" Nicole laughs. I flash my flash light in Jamal's face.

"No it's hard. Maybe a brick?" He grimaces

"A brick?" suddenly I'm intrigued. God knows why, it's a brick.

"Let me help you, man," Ryan pulls Jamal up. Nicole and I look at where Jamal fell. There is a crusty red object, about 2 inches wide and maybe a foot long and it's splintery at the end.

"Oh," I breathe

"My," Nicole breathes

"God," we both sigh at the same time

"Are you guys ok?" The boys ask us

"Do you know what this?!" we ask at the same time

"Uh no," the simultaneousness continues with the boys

"Take a guess,"

"A stick?"

"No,"

"An old dead tree?"

"Nope,"

"The end of an ancient light saber?"

"NO!" Nicole and I groan

"Then what is it?!" they huff

"It's the end of the hatchet!"

"The whaaa?"

"Would someone like to sing the Lizzie Borden jump rope chant?" I ask

"The what?" Ryan turns his head like a little lost puppy dog

"Nicole, take it away," I sigh

"Lizzie Borden had an ax; she gave her mother 40 whacks. When she saw what she had done, she gave her father 41," Nicole explains

"I'm still confused," Jamal raises his hand

"Do you know what an ax is?" Nicole asks

"Yup. I'm wearing some," Jamal says, smelling his arm pit

"Not Axe, dumb ass! An ax! Like you chop down trees with?" Nicole is waving her hands like she was chopping down a tree.

"I can chop down a tree with my pits?! That's awesome!" Jamal jumps up and down

"I swear I've met dirt smarter than you!" groans Nicole

"Anyway, an ax is basically the same thing as a hatchet," I conclude. I hear my sister shouting at me now 'Ana. A hatchet and an ax are not the same thing!' but I would totally zone out after that.

"And this piece has never been found," Nicole explains

"**EVER.** Do you know what this means?" God, now I'm squealing like Arabella.

"You sound like Arabella," Ryan says with a laugh. I give him the evil eye, he laughs even harder. That's when it hits me; Ryan is hitting on my sister! That explains why I found him walking in the house with her, after the rest of us. I knew he was a player. And, he went with twins. **Big** mistake.

"I do not! We are two different people!" I protest, "How dare you make us sound like the same person. You dirty, rotten, little son of a-" I get stopped by Nicole throwing her hand over my mouth.

"Calm, down!" Nicole stands in front of me still covering my mouth.

"What was that for? Ana I wasn't comparing you to your sister; I was just having a laugh, geez," Ryan's brow creases

"Maybe we should split our group in half. Ana and I will take the side over here. And you two dorks look on this side. Don't yourselves killed!" Nicole shouts as she pulls me away. Once we're out of hearing distance, Nicole removes her hand from my mouth, "What is your problem?!" she hisses

"He likes my sister!" I hiss back

"What?" Nicole spins around, "Him? Like your sister? Arabella? I thought Jonathon had that covered?!"

"Yeah, Ryan likes my sister. I'm sure of it! And I thought Jonathon had it covered too! I can't believe I thought Ryan actually liked me! I knew he was a player!"

"Ok listen, I'm totally on your side about this, but he isn't dating either of you he's technically not a player,"

"Well then I'm glad I caught on to his 'little game' early on,"

"Look, Crazy McPsycho Pants, he likes you, and ONLY you. I heard him say so. So calm your nutty self, and get with the program. We're ghost hunters, not soap opera stars!"

"Ok, Whaddya wanna do first?" I groan. I don't believe her about him solely liking me. It's just too unlikely, but I shut up about it for now.

"Put these on, we're gonna go get that handle before the guys get their grubby mitts on them, and spoil the DNA sample," she hands me a pair of latex gloves; she puts on a pair for herself. She grabs a detective kit out of her back pack and a large Ziploc bag big enough to fit the handle.

"Damn, you're good," I pull on the gloves

"Yes, yes I am," Nicole says with a semi-egotistical smirk (I learned that word from Arabella- egotistical not smirk.) we walk half way across the huge basement to where we found the handle. Nicole grabs my wrist right before we approach the guys, "Remember keep it cool, and I'll do the talking," she whispers. I nod in agreement.

"What are you finally ready to apologize?" Ryan snaps, looking hurt.

I open my mouth to reply, but Nicole slaps her hand over my mouth and gives me a look. "She doesn't need to apologize. She meant what she said. Have either of you touched that thing?" Nicole points at the handle

"I haven't," Ryan muttered

"Would it be bad if I did?" Jamal asked

"YES!" Nicole and I scream at the same time


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Arabella

We walk up the stairs and the door to the room where Lizzie's stepmother, Abby was murdered, I look under the bed, and I can almost picture myself as the police coming up the stairs, looking in the exact same spot to see Abby's dead carcass sprawled on the floor.

As soon as we reach the attic, I breathe a sigh of relief. No Jonathon for 3 days, if all goes to plan! That's good, because ever since I let him be the leader of Team Dorklepuff, he thinks we're going out or something. It bothers me, a lot. "Sooooo… Whaddya we do first?" Malena asks. Honestly, I would **LOVE** to set up the cameras in some spots and start looking for ethereal activity. But I'm not sure what everyone else had in mind though.

"Umm, what did you guys have in mind?" I say with a smile. Making friends has never been my best talent. In fact the _only_ thing I'm **NOT** intelligent in is the 'Social Arts'. At the moment I'm just trying to not make enemies.

"You're our leader, Arabella, what would you like to do?" Paulina asks

"Well, let's take 2 cameras into each room, and set them up at specific spots, like where two walls meet, or at the area where Abby was found. And then look for some paranormal activity, and then where we find- let's say an inexplicable breeze- then we step up one of my mini cams and film that area. And we'll get the whole thing on my laptop, and my iPhone," I slip off my backpack, and Secura shines her flashlight over my backpack. I dig out the cameras and hand half of them to Paulina and the other to Malena. I rezip my backpack, slip it onto my shoulder, and flip on my flashlight and direct my group into the first room.

….******….******….

By dawn we have all the cameras set up. Sadly, we don't have any unusual occurrences, so the only cameras we don't set up are my tiny ones. "So what should we do next?" Paulina yawns

"I dunno," I blink my sleepy eyes. God, I'm so tired I used bad grammar! I expect everyone to gasp or stares, but they don't, "I vote, our next move is sleep," they all nod. We all go in the hallway, and set up our sleeping bags. As soon as I crawl inside my sleeping bag and lay my head down, I'm out cold.

….******….******….

I blink open my eyes, and glance at my watch. It's 10:55 pm. _Crap! I forgot to set an alarm! _I think to myself. We're wasting valuable ghost hunting time! "Everybody, up! We've overslept!" I yell. They all get to their feet without haste. We roll up our sleeping bags, and stow them away, for now. We scramble down the stairs to the first floor, where I left my laptop. First we check the normal camera, nothing. Then we check the heat seeking camera, and that's where things turned for the freaky. The camera was turned at the north and east walls, of Abby's room. At 7:34 everything is normal. At 7:35 the north wall is ice cold coming in at a bone chilling -25 degrees Fahrenheit and the east wall is a sweltering 130 degrees. I can't believe we slept through that! "It's a good thing we set up the cameras!" I comment. Everyone nods in agreement. After we check the other shots, nothing else is suspicious, we head back upstairs. We go into Abby's room; I slip on my night-vision goggles and look around.

"Do you see anything?" Malena asked me

"No, no signs of ghosts-" I get interrupted by my communi-cuff, which up until this point had been silent, it's Ana. "Waterbug here, what's your copy?" I ask

"Ok, _Rubber Ducky_, you can cut the CV radio thing," Ana grumbles

"Fine, fine. What do you need?" I ask

"By chance is the power out where you are?" Ana is trying to keep her voice calm, but I can see right through her. She's worried, really worried.

"No, the lights are on," I reply.

"Weird," I hear Nicole put in

"Ryan?" I hear Ana ask. If she's asking him, this must mean they've separated.

"It's Chowhound, Blondie," he grumbles

"Chowhound," Ana snaps, wow what happened between them? I thought they were like lovebirds or something, "Are the lights out where you are?" Ana asks, this time there's at least concern in her voice.

"Roger that," Ryan says

"OK, I hope everyone is listening, **NO MORE CV RADIO TALK!** That's soooo 1975! And you've got it alllll wrong," Ana squeaks, I laugh. Sorry, I can't help it. It's funny when my sister squeals, it's like she can speak dolphin or something. I'm looking straight at Paulina, who's staring at me like I'm crazy. Suddenly she is pushed over ledge, she's hanging on. I stop laughing and rush to her side. I pull her up, and she starts hugging me like crazy, I can hardly breathe!

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthan kyouthankyouthankyou!" Paulina squeezes me even tighter.

"You're welcome," I choke out

"Y-y-you saved my life! How can I ever repay you?!" she squeezes me even tighter, I didn't know I could be that squeezed.

"Letting me go?" I beg. She releases me, I breathe in a full cold breath of air.

"What happened?" I ask out of curiosity. From my view, it looked like she had been pushed, though no one was standing near enough to push her, besides me. I sure didn't push her!

"I'm not sure. It felt like someone had pushed me," Paulina says, her face scrunches up in confusion.

"That's what it looked like," Malena says

"That's what I thought, I just was wondering if I was seeing things," I nod

"So what should we do next?" Paulina asks

"I think I know," I say. I press a button on my communi-cuff

"Everyone, let's head back to base," I say, addressing everyone.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Anabella

"You heard the lady," I command to my team, "Let's head back to base," Nicole and I start heading to the stairs. Ryan and Jamal catch up with us. Just before we reach the stairs, Ryan grabs my shoulder.

"You two go on ahead," he motions to Nicole and Jamal, "I wanna have a word with Ana,"

"Come on, Jamal, let's go," Nicole gives me a 'have-fun-lovebirds' look. We watch them climb the steps to the world above.

"I don't want to talk to you," I bite my lip

"We need to talk, though," Ryan insists

"But we have nothing to say," I protest

"I do," Ryan says

"Well I don't wanna hear it," I start walking away. Ryan grabs my arm, and pulls me back.

"I don't know what I've done, but I'm sorry alright?" Ryan looks at me

"You don't know what you have done?" my voice cracks, half with anger, half with disappointment

"Well no, but you seem upset so I just want to apologize,"

"You like Arabella, and me! That's what you've done!"

"Arabella? Like the Arabella- your sister, Arabella? Are you crazy?" Ryan laughs, I feel my eyebrows rise in confusion, "Ana, you are the one I want. You're the one I _love_," he grabs my hands. I bite my lip, wow so this is what it feels like to be completely wrong. I mean I've been wrong before, but not THIS wrong. Then he leans in, I squeal.

"Are you about to kiss me?" I ask

"Well, yeah. Is that a problem?"

"Yup, let's go," I say pulling him up the stairs

….******….******….

"So what are we doing here?" Damion asks

"Let's see, the lights went off in the basement, Paulina almost **died** by falling over the rail, and was almost as if she was pushed," Arabella states

"So? Who pushed her?" asks Tom

"No one you dimwit! That's why we're here, just like no one turned the lights off in the basement," Nicole retorts

"Oh," Jamal mumbles

"Well it's getting late, I mean early. We aren't getting anything else done tonight, so let's just go to bed.

"But we just got-" Paulina begins

"Hush child, you had a scare. Now shut up," Arabella pushes her back. We all shrug and begin to set up our sleeping arrangements. I roll out my sleeping bag beside Nicole. Then Ryan comes up to me.

"Here comes trouble," Nicole sings quietly.

"Hey, Ana," Ryan smiles

"What do you want?" I snap

"I wanted to know if I could set up here," he asks earnestly

"Sure, Ryan," Nicole says

"Great!" he smiles

"Hold on, I never said you could!" I object

"Ana, just let him," Nicole says

"Yeah, Ana just let me," Ryan begs

"Ugh, fine," I sigh, too tired to really care. I slide into my sleeping bag and fall asleep on Nicole's shoulder.

….******….******….

When I wake up I don't move; I don't want to wake Nicole. Only it's not Nicole's shoulder I'm on. I'm leaning against Ryan's, and his arm is around mine. I feel so calm, like it's ok that I'm with Ryan, so maybe he's not a player, I was wrong. I open my eyes and find he's awake. He smiles and at me and I think I smile back.

"Mornin' I mean, Night?" Ryan laughs.

"Yeah, I, uh, guess," I smile. I notice Arabella see us. She gives us a thumbs up, I'm so glad Ryan isn't looking.

"Everybody up!" Arabella sings. I jump up; I wanna get out of this stupid, girly, love, whatever-this-is.

Ryan looks seriously depressed, and in a brief Nicole-like moment it makes me happy. We get up and around, eventually making our way back down to the basement. I make sure I'm as far from Ryan as I can. "Mulan is most definitely the best Disney princess ever. I mean sure, Jasmine is awesome with her beast tiger and all, and I would so marry Genie," Nicole says rather randomly.

"Were we even talking about that?" Ryan asks

"Nope, I'm just random like that," Nicole smirks

"Alrighty then," I sigh

….******….******….

"Whoa!" I step back, Ryan grabs my arm. I yank it away, and steady myself. Ahead of us are two illuminated figures not over two and a half feet tall, the figures are slightly levitated and all I can hear is the sound of small children laughing. We all stand there mesmerized for a few minutes, then a third larger figure appears and bloodcurdling screams fill the air, and my hands go to my ears and I shrink to my knees.

"Um, Ana," Nicole begins, "What are you doing?"

"Did you guys hear that?" I ask

"Hear what?" Ryan laughs

"The laughing? The screaming? The illuminated figures?" I ask, am I seriously the only one to hear this crap AGAIN?!

"Calm down, Blondie. We all heard and saw everything we're just messin' with ya alright?" Ryan laughs

"Don't call me Blondie!" I protest

"Well stop being over sensitive!" Nicole retorts

"Let's just go alright?!" Ryan rolls his eyes. We walk around some more, finding nothing. An hour of mindless searching later, I'm somehow standing right beside Ryan, the last place I want to be. The only noise we can hear is each other's breathing. All of the sudden the lights go out, the cold air goes warm, and where Ryan used to be there's only air. In a second our flashlights are on, and realize my worst thoughts have come true. Ryan is gone.


End file.
